A user interface generally uses descriptive data to formulate menus which can be displayed on a television screen, these data enabling the user to choose the audiovisual document in which he is interested. The MPEG-7 standard specifies descriptive data associated with audiovisual contents. The MPEG-7 standard is distributed by the ISO under the reference ISO-IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11-N5525 published in March 2003. If these documents are received from a transmission network, the descriptive data are stored in a local database and constantly updated as a function of the documents accessible on the network. Other descriptive data exist, likewise other media such as PVRs (standing for “Personal Video Recorder”). The audiovisual documents may also be downloaded when requested by the user from a bi-directional network. In this case, the user receives a catalogue, chooses there from the document in which he is interested and activates his download to the memory of his apparatus. The descriptive data in the documents are recorded in a database and grouped together according to certain criteria such as topic, language, rating, etc. During a navigation, these criteria constitute nodes of a graph, the user selecting an element. By progressing forwards in the navigation within the graph, the user aggregates the criteria, thereby allowing refined selection of the documents. The aim being to offer the user a restricted choice of documents and therefore a faster choice.
Patent Application FR2809268 filed by the Applicant and published on 23 Nov. 2001 describes a process for navigating within a menu for the selection of television programs and a device integrating a graphical interface allowing navigation through these menus. The menus displayed make it possible to utilize a navigation graph, the menus displaying lists of elements associated with nodes of the graph. With the help of this interface, the user determines his criteria for navigating within the graph so that the interface effects a filtering of the documents which is perfectly matched to the preferences of the user. The graph defines a navigation structure accessible through the user's commands. The user navigation interface displays on the screen the list of elements that are associated with each node of the graph or a selected list of documents having the user's preferences. This way of navigating is called “hypernavigation”, it is akin to internet navigation where the HTML pages are interconnected by “hyperlinks”.
Nowadays, the means by which a person can obtain at home audiovisual documents chosen from a continually growing catalogue are ever more powerful. The size of the screen being limited, it is preferable to offer the user a very detailed selection of documents so as to display the result of the filtering on a page. Therefore, searching for documents with current user interfaces proves to be lengthy and tedious, and the programs making it possible to select elements as a function of criteria take an ever greater time. The introduction of digital networks has seen the appearance of mass storage means, digital TV decoders also permitting access to internet type networks in homes. Tomorrow's user will be faced with a very considerable quantity of multimedia documents of various types, such as audio, videos, pictures, text, application/services, etc. Formatting into a menu can be done only when the result of the filtering is complete, hence the response time of the apparatus becomes ever longer. During this time, the user may wonder whether his apparatus is operating or not. To decrease the waiting times, it is possible to increase the processing capabilities of the central unit and the memory size, but it is expensive to do this.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,043—Blonstein published on 21 Nov. 1999 describes a process for navigating within a menu displayed on a screen. This menu presents a list of names of transmission channels that the user can select. A cursor moves over the various elements as a function of the commands issued by the user. The movement of this cursor gives no precise indication as to the execution of the command performed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,609—BURRES published on 17 Sep. 2002 also describes a menu displaying icons selectable with the help of an arrow-shaped cursor. The user moves the cursor, so the motion of the cursor provides no additional information for the user.
The invention presents another alternative by proposing a new concept of user interface offering the user feedback as to the task that he is currently executing.